Antonio Buero Vallejo

Antonio Buero Vallejo (Guadalajara, September 29, 1916-Madrid, April 29, 2000) was a Spanish playwright, winner of the Lope de Vega Prize in 1949 and the Cervantes Prize in 1986.

Biography

Antonio Buero Vallejo was born in Guadalajara in 1916. His father, Francisco, was a soldier from Cádiz who taught Calculus at the Guadalajara Academy of Engineers; his mother, María Cruz, was from Taracena (Guadalajara). His older brother Francisco was born in 1911 and his younger sister Carmen in 1926.

He spent his entire childhood in La Alcarria, except for two years (1927-1928) that he lived in Larache (Morocco), where his father had been assigned. She became fond of reading in the great parental library and also of music and painting: from the age of four she drew tirelessly. His father usually took him to the theater and at the age of nine he was already directing performances in a toy theater. He studied high school in Guadalajara (1926-1933) and his interest in philosophical, scientific and social issues awoke. In 1932 he received a literary prize for high school and teaching students for the story The only man , which was not published until 2001. He began to write Confessions that later he destroyed. In 1934, the family moved to Madrid, where he entered the San Fernando School of Fine Arts, alternating classes with him attending theater and reading.

When the Civil War began, he wanted to enlist as a volunteer, but his father prevented him. This, a soldier, was arrested and shot by the Republicans on December 7, 1936. In 1937 he was called up and joined an infantry battalion, collaborating with drawings and writings in La Voz de la Sanidad and in other cultural activities. In Benicasim he met Miguel Hernández.

At the end of the war, Buero was in the Valencia Health Department, where he was confined for a few days in the bullring. Later, he spent a month in the Soneja concentration camp, in the province of Castellón, and finally they allowed him to return to his place of residence with an order to report to the authorities, an order that he did not comply with. He began working on the reorganization of the Communist Party, which he had joined during the war and from whose militancy he moved away years later.

He was arrested in May or June 1939 and sentenced to death with other comrades for "adhering to the rebellion." After eight months, his sentence was commuted to another thirty years. He went through various prisons: in the Conde de Toreno prison he remained for a year and a half. There he drew a famous and widely reproduced portrait of Miguel Hernández – the original of which is kept by Miguel Hernández's heirs – and assisted in an escape attempt that later inspired certain aspects of The Foundation . In Yeserías he barely spent a month and a half, about three years in El Dueso and another one in Santa Rita prison. He wrote about painting and made hundreds of portraits of his classmates, establishing very good friendships with some of them and maintaining contact after his release from prison. He left the Ocaña prison on probation, although exiled from Madrid, at the beginning of March 1946. He established his residence in Carabanchel Bajo and became a member of the Ateneo; he publishes drawings in magazines, but he is already more attracted to narrative writing and, finally, to drama.

His first drama was written about blindness, In the Burning Darkness, in one week in August 1946, and Ruthless Story and Another Trial of Solomon in 1948 (works that he later destroyed and have not been preserved). Between 1947 and 1948 he wrote History of a ladder , initially called The ladder . He was nominated for the Lope de Vega award, which he won with Historia de una escalera , whose premiere in October 1949 was such a success that it consecrated him forever among critics and audiences. That same year he also won the prize from the Association of Friends of the Quinteros with the one-act play: The words in the sand . He constantly published and premiered in Madrid and Historia de una escalera was made into a film by Ignacio F. Iquino.

Statue of Buero Vallejo in front of the cultural center of Alcorcón that bears its name

In the 1950s he premiered The Dream Weaver, The Waiting Signal, Almost a Fairy Tale, Madrugada, Irene, or the treasure, Today is a party and his first historical drama, A dreamer for a town. Her works began to be performed abroad, such as History of a Staircase in Mexico (March 1950) and In the Burning Darkness in Santa Barbara, California (December 1950). 1952).

In 1954 the premiere of Aventura en lo grise was prohibited. The following year, “Don Homobono” appeared in the newspaper Informaciones, an ironic article against censorship. The representation of El puente, by Carlos Gorostiza, whose version had been made by Buero, was also prohibited. He wrote A strange harmony , which was not released or published until his Complete Works . The article «Buero Vallejo's theater seen by Buero Vallejo» appeared in number 1 of the magazine Primer Acto. His essay on "The Tragedy" was published. In 1959 he married the actress Victoria Rodríguez (died in 2020) with whom he had two children: Carlos, who was born the following year, and Enrique, born in 1961, and died in 1986 in a traffic accident.

In the 1960s he managed to premiere part of his pieces despite the censorship: The concert of San Ovidio , Adventure in the gray , The Skylight and his versions of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, by Shakespeare and Mother Courage and her Children, by Bertolt Brecht. Directed by José Tamayo Rivas, she premiered Las Meninas , which was her biggest hit since Historia de una escalera . Then took place the controversy between the theater of possibilism and that of impossibilism that she had with Alfonso Sastre in the pages of First Act . In this year she published "A poem and a memory", an early article on Miguel Hernández. In 1963 he was proposed to join the Superior Theater Council, but Buero resigned.

He signed, together with another hundred intellectuals, headed by José Bergamín, a letter addressed to the Minister of Information and Tourism requesting explanations about the treatment given by the police to some Asturian miners, which caused him to distance himself from publishers and companies. In 1964, censorship prohibited The double story of Dr. Valmy, an allegation against torture, which was not performed in Spain until 1976, after the dictatorship. It did not premiere again until 1967, at the Bellas theater Artes and under the direction of José Tamayo, El tragaluz, the first play under Franco in which a direct reference to the Civil War was made, and which was enormously successful. Simultaneously, Historia de una escalera was re-released for the first time (which would return to the stage in a production by the National Drama Center in 2003).

He was named a member of the Royal Spanish Academy in 1971, occupying the X chair, which he took possession of on May 22, 1972 with a speech about García Lorca before the grotesque. He was awarded the Cervantes Prize in 1986 and the National Prize for Spanish Letters in 1996.

Antonio Buero Vallejo died at the Ramón y Cajal hospital in Madrid, due to a cardiorespiratory arrest, on April 29, 2000, at the age of eighty-three. In 1987, Onda Madrid dedicated a special of two one-hour chapters to him on his relationship with the capital. Within the space directed and presented by Carlos Villarrubia, Al ritmo de Madrid, Buero takes a sentimental walk through his memories, tango, love affairs, the first poems and the unforgettable corners for the author of Madrid forever.

Dramatic work

The common theme that links all his production is the tragedy of the individual, analyzed from a social, ethical and moral point of view. The main problems that anguish the man are already pointed out in his first work, In the burning darkness , and continue in later works.

Critics have classified his work as symbolist theater, theater of social criticism, and historical dramas.

Symbolist theater

In the burning darkness represents the crude confrontation with a reality that cannot be concealed or disguised. Through the physical defect of blindness, Buero symbolizes human limitations. Thus, he is a symbol of imperfection, of the lack of freedom to understand the mystery of our being and our destiny in the world. Man is not free because he cannot know the mystery that surrounds him.

The theme of mystery predominates in other works, also of a symbolist nature: The Weaver of Dreams, a recreation of the myth of Ulysses and Penelope; Irene, or the treasure, analysis of the unfolding of reality.

Social criticism

These works analyze Spanish society with all its injustices, lies and violence. They belong to this group: History of a ladder, The face-down cards and The skylight.

Historia de una escalera, which won the Lope de Vega prize in 1948, is possibly one of the most important theater works of this period due to its tragic nature and its denunciation of social conditions of life. The work caused a great impact due to its realism and social content. In it, he raises the impossibility of some individuals to improve materially due to the social situation and lack of will.

El tragaluz, like almost all of Buero Vallejo's, begins in an apparently anodyne way, telling the story of a family, but then it turns into a story which, both in substance and the form (and always with the necessary subtlety to avoid censorship), constitutes a full-fledged attack on Francoism and its obsession with influencing our vision of both past and future history. Its plot is apparently simple and its reading very easy, but nevertheless, as soon as one begins to dig, one finds five or six levels of messages, all of them very powerful, and that greatly impact the reader. All those messages, at the time in which it was written (late Francoism), were understood without the need to say anything. Today, to understand them, many times they must be contextualized by literary analysts.

Historical Dramas

In these dramas, Buero takes «materials from the historical past (...) as a springboard or mirror and as a mine of meanings facing the present and as "models" in the sense that sociology gives to the word» (Francisco Ruiz Ramón). Remember that this same thing happened in Francisco Ayala.

This group includes A dreamer for a town, Las Meninas, The concert of San Ovidio and The dream of the reason.

A dreamer for a town recounts the failure of a man determined to improve the life of a town. The protagonist, Esquilache, has to confront the entire system, since the policy that he intends to impose does not have popular support. But in reality, the opposition to his policy does not come from the people themselves, but from a third power, which, hidden, undermines the improvements in life. In the end, Esquilache sacrifices himself: he resigns his position and goes into exile.

The concert of San Ovidio, Parable in three acts premiered in 1962. Based on an engraving that represents the show of the blind orchestra of the Hospice of the Fifteen Twenty, performed in September 1771, Buero reconstructs a drama in which the grotesque, injustice and lack of ethics emerge. The themes are the exploitation of man by man and man's struggle for his freedom.

The dream of reason. The work is located in Madrid in 1823, during the wave of terror unleashed by Fernando VII in his fight against the liberals. The protagonist is Francisco de Goya. Through the deafness of this character —again a physical handicap— Buero symbolizes the inability of some to hear the meaning of reality.

His latest titles include Caiman (1981), Secret Dialogue (1984) and Lázaro in the Labyrinth (1986).

Characters

It could be said that the characters of Buero Vallejo usually coincide with the following characteristics:

• They present some physical or psychic jar.
• They are not reduced to simple schemes or symbols.
• They are complex characters that experience a process of transformation throughout the work.
• Criticism has distinguished them between active and contemplative characters. The former lack scruples and act driven by selfishness or by their low instincts, and, if any, they do not hesitate to be cruel or violent if they achieve their goals. They are not bad characters; the manique distinction between good and bad has no place in the Buero theater. The contemplatives feel distressed. The world they live in is too small. They move in a universe closed to hope. In spite of being aware of their limitations, they dream of an impossible, they are irremediably bound to failure. They never see their wishes materialized.

Works

Her plays are, in order of premiere:

• History of a staircase (1949)
• The words in the sand (1950)
• In the fiery darkness (1950)
• The dream weaver (1952)
• The signal expected (1952)
• Almost a fairy tale (1953)
• Madrugada (1953)
• Irene, or the treasure (1954)
• Today's party (1955)
• Letters face down (1957)
• A dreamer for a village (1958)
• The Meninas (1960)
• The concert of San Ovidio (1962)
• Adventure in the grey (1963)
• The skylight (1967)
• Dr. Valmy's double story (1968)
• The dream of reason (1970)
• Arrival of the gods (1971)
• The Foundation (1974)
• The detonation (1977)
• Judges at night (1979)
• Cayman (1981)
• Secret dialogue (1984)
• Lazarus in the maze (1986)
• Music nearby (1989)
• The traps of chance (1994)
• Mission to the desert town (1999)

Filmography

Films based on his works

• History of a staircaseaddressed by Ignacio F. Iquino (1950)
• In the fiery darknessaddressed in Argentina by Daniel Tinayre (1959)
• Esquilache, directed in Spain by Josefina Molina (1989)

Awards

• 2000. Special Prize for the Theater of Rojas (posthumous title)
• 1999.- Max de Honor de las Artes Escénicas (SGAE and La Fundación Autor)
• 1998.- Gold Medal of Madrid City Council
• 1997. Medalla de Honor de la Universidad Carlos III
• 1997. Gold Medal of the Provincial Council of Guadalajara
• 1997. Medalla de la Orden Andrés Bello de Venezuela
• 1996.- National Prize for Spanish Letters
• 1994. Gold Medal to Merit of Fine Arts
• 1986.- The Spectator and Criticism Award, Lazarus in the maze
• 1986.- Miguel de Cervantes Award (Spain)
• 1985. Ercilla Theatre Award, Secret dialogue
• 1985. National Theatre Award (INAEM), A dreamer for a village
• 1984. The Spectator and Criticism Award, Secret dialogue
• 1981.- The Spectator and Criticism Award, Cayman
• 1980.- National Theatre Award (INAEM)
• 1980.- Silver Medal of the Circle of Fine Arts
• 1977.- The Spectator and Criticism Award, The detonation
• 1976.- The Spectator and Criticism Award, Dr. Valmy's double story
• 1974.- The Spectator and Criticism Award, The Foundation
• 1974.- Mayte Theatre Award, The Foundation
• 1970.- The Spectator and Criticism Award, The dream of reason
• 1967. The Spectator and Criticism Award, The skylight
• 1957.- National Theatre Award (INAEM), Letters face down
• 1956.- National Theatre Award (INAEM), Today's party
• 1949. Lope de Vega de Teatro Award (Ayuntamiento de Madrid), History of a staircase

Predecessor: Antonio Rodríguez-Moñino	Academician of the Royal Spanish Academy X 1972 - 2000	Successor: Francisco Brines
Predecessor: Gonzalo Torrente Ballester	Miguel de Cervantes Award 1986	Successor: Carlos Fuentes